


Five Superpowers Ray Person Would Hate to Have

by bergann



Category: Generation Kill
Genre: Gen, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-30
Updated: 2010-01-30
Packaged: 2017-10-06 20:30:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/57470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bergann/pseuds/bergann





	Five Superpowers Ray Person Would Hate to Have

**Telepathy.**  
Ray doesn't get why anyone would want the ability to read other people's thoughts. He has enough noise in his head with only his thoughts in there; adding the thoughts of everyone else in as well is just asking to become an absolute fucking nutcase.

Seriously, if Ray had the ability to read minds while in Iraq? He'd probably have blown his own brains out. No, scratch that, he'd _definitely_ have blown his own brains out because he'd fucking have to listen to _Trombley's_ fucking thoughts, like the things that come out of the guy's mouth aren't creepy and scarring enough. Ray never wants to know what doesn't make it through Trombley's brain-to-mouth censor. He's so fucking happy not knowing, he'd thank God every day if he truly believed the fucker was up there listening.

It wouldn't only be Trombley though, it would be the thoughts of _everyone_. Man, he'd even hear Haji thoughts, which would be just fucked up. Probably they wouldn't even let him drive the Humvee, instead using him as some sort of spy to figure out what Saddam is thinking. Which would be cool, but it's not like Ray would understand what the fuck was being said anyway.

People who want the ability of telepathy usually argue that you'd have control over whose thoughts you'd hear, which just -- no. Fuck no, it never works like that. _Life_ doesn't work like that. There are no movies about people with superpowers who don't have some major trouble with them one way or another, and you know why? Because it would be fucking boring and no one would watch it.

So Ray knows that if he'd have the ability to read minds, he would never be fucking able to turn it off. It would be constant, flooding him with thoughts of everyone around him and he'd have blown his brains out by the time he's eleven, for sure, or maybe just end up in a little padded cell somewhere.

You want to know what someone is thinking? Learn to read body language like anyone else with a brain, you fucking retard.

 

**Flight.**  
The ability to fly might've been really awesome a hundred years ago, if not a few hundred. These days, if Ray had the ability to fly, he's sure he'd be mistaken for a bird and shot, mistaken for an enemy aircraft and shot, thought to just be a UFO and shot, or not mistaken for anything at all, but still shot because of some trigger-happy asshole on the ground.

Even when he wouldn't be worrying about suddenly getting shot, he'd probably be sucked into an airplane engine or bump into a helicopter or some stupid shit like that. Flying is fucking dangerous; not to mention that at great altitude, he'd probably be unable to breathe and pass out. Then he'll be unidentified blood and guts on some shitty sidewalk, to be cleaned up and forgotten about in a day.

What's the point of flying if you can't fly high? Fuck, you might as well put him in a cage and call him Polly, 'cause if Ray can't fly the way he wants to fly, then fuck it. He'll walk.

 

**Precognition.**  
Ray doesn't get why anyone would want to see their future. The present is usually fucked up and more than enough to have to think about at once, there's no need to add the knowledge that you're gonna die in an hour or three years into the mix.

If you know how it's all gonna end, you're gonna be too focused worrying about that to really enjoy anything else. Plus, if you have the ability to see the future, then what you see is either gonna be good or it's going to be bad. If it's good, that's fine, but if you see something bad, you're going to try and do everything in your power to make sure it doesn't happen which is just stupid. Why does everyone who can see the future think this means they can change it?

Chances are it's gonna come true no matter what you do. Ray doesn't want that kind of knowledge hanging over him, like knowing whoever is next to him in battle is going to take a shot to the face and being unable to say when or that he's gonna die of a heart attack aged seventy-five.

Seriously, who would wish for the ability to know stuff like that? It's better to forget about the future and just focus on the present, because just like the past, there is fuck all he can do to change it.

 

**Superhuman speed.**  
This one would be cool, Ray thinks, right up until time catches up with him and he ends up dead. See, Ray's read comic books and he's seen the movies, he knows that with the ability to run really fucking fast, comes the slow disintegration of your organs. There is a reason, after all, why there's all that protective gear when someone crosses the sound barrier. Why they don't just strap a huge fucking rocket to the guy's back and send him off. It's because no human being can survive that, and really, there is no fucking reason why the ability of superhuman speed should be any different.

Now, if he'd have the ability of invulnerability as well as superhuman speed, things would be different. Then Ray would totally be in favor of being able to get around really fucking fast without the use of a car -- although that is sort of a shame, because there are a lot of cars out there Ray would fucking love to drive that probably wouldn't measure up to running the distance -- if he knew that the effects on his body wouldn't kill him. He'd be all for it.

Superpowers though, they generally don't clump together. Ray's not that lucky, and whatever, he runs faster than most of the guys in Recon. That is all the human speed he needs.

 

**Immortality.**  
Okay, so to be quite honest, Ray never really got why on Earth all the super villains want to live forever. Sure, it sounds great in theory, but they never fucking mention whether you'll live forever as you are or if you're going to age. That's a really big oversight, in Ray's opinion, since he'd fucking hate to live for 200 years and look it too.

But still, even if he didn't age, he's not so sure he'd want to live forever. It might be okay if everyone he cares about lived forever as well, but then they'd want whoever they cared about to live forever and so on, until the entire planet is immortal and there's no way to stop the population from growing. There would be no more food or water left, nothing green, basically what every single tree-hugging hippie are crying out will happen just because Ray doesn't always recycle. Fuck, people would probably become cannibals, because there's no way anyone could still be alive after being cut up and eaten by ten different people.

Except they'd be immortal. Ray wonders if that means they would still, in a way, be alive, like maybe the eyes can still see inside your stomach and shit.

He asks Brad about it, which gets him an irritated look that lasts just long enough to betray a slight worry, and a snapped, "Leave the Ripped Fuel alone, Ray."

"I hope none of us live forever," Ray says, and whatever he was going to add now that his brain-to-mouth censor is off again, remains a mystery, because they're taking sniper fire.

Ray's kind of glad for the distraction. Superpowers can get fucking depressing.


End file.
